Procrastinating, Kingdom Saving, and all other forms of Geekdom

My Trip to The Shoe

As many of you may know, I am a big fan of Ohio State football. I have been for as long as I can remember. The highlights of my fandom had been watching them win the National Championships in both 2002 and 2015. I didn’t think anything other than another championship would come close to getting me that pumped up about them. Then, something did.

On Friday, while I was on lunch, I was playing around on Facebook. I saw a post made by my best friend from high school (the one from the unintentional pickup line story). He said he had an extra ticket to the Ohio State game the following day. Someone else had already asked about it, so I figured he would take that person and I put it out of my mind.

When I got home that night, Mrs. Revis asked if the game would be televised and I mentioned the Facebook post to her. She asked if I had responded. I told her that I hadn’t. She asked why. I informed her that our money would probably best be saved for other things. Plus, he was probably going to take that guy who had already responded. She told me that I had to get on there and at least ask about it. Apparently, I don’t do enough things for myself and she sometimes feels guilty when I tell her she can do things.

So, I replied to his post, saying that I would go if he hadn’t already found someone. Twenty minutes later, he told me to call him. I did. After we spent a little time catching up, it was decided that I would go with him. I couldn’t believe it. I was finally going to a Buckeyes game.
I never thought I would go to one. Not because I didn’t want to, but because there were so many reasons to stay at home: the tickets are kind of expensive, the drive to Columbus, my uncomfortableness in large crowds (it’s bad enough at NFL games that have 70000 people. Ohio Stadium holds 110000 people), the bench seating that would cause me severe back pain, and until then I hadn’t found anyone who was a true Buckeye fan that I was willing to go with.

I’ll spare you the details of us meeting up and the drive up there, but once we arrived, it was amazing. We got there fairly early. We were able to watch as the players made the trek from the athletic facility to the stadium across the street. We visited Buckeye Grove, where the school plants a tree for every All-American the team has had. I took pictures of all the ones of the players that I really liked. After that, we went inside Ohio Stadium (aka The Horseshoe, or simply The Shoe).

Other than the five flights of stairs we had to climb to get to our seats, the stadium was awesome (what made the stairs even worse was finding out right after we climbed them that there were elevators right up the hallway we could’ve used *facepalm*).

The game was about to start. The whole place erupted in noise. Everyone began chanting the bass line from Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes (which is a badass bass line, by the way). The entire place is electric.

It’s hard to explain. I’ve been to 7 or 8 NFL games and they’ve been nothing like this. There’s an energy to the Horseshoe that is unlike anything I have ever experienced before. Over a hundred thousand voices came together to cheer for their team. As great as the NFL is, it can’t elicit the same reaction. College football fans are much more passionate about their teams.

And the halftime show was amazing too. I’m not normally one for marching bands, but the Ohio State band is great. There’s a reason that they’re called The Best Damn Band in the Land. If you don’t believe me, YouTube their tribute to Michael Jackson. I guess I could put it on here for you, but I’m too lazy.

Overall, it was the greatest sporting event I have ever experienced. It is one I will never forget. And, for the same reasons I mentioned earlier, it may be the only time I ever experience it. While that would suck, I’d be ok with that. As long as I got to be there once, I’m happy.

I’m not big on doing things for myself. I’m usually happier making my wife or daughter happy than getting something that I want. There’s been plenty of times in my life where I’ve flat out not been able to get/do the things I’ve wanted, so I’m used to doing without. Besides, I’m a fairly basic guy. My wants are usually just a book or movie here and there.